Poconos crash victim was 'voice of reason,' rock star to friends

Friday

Nov 5, 2010 at 12:01 AMNov 5, 2010 at 3:22 PM

Fun-loving 20-year-old Ethan Moyer was killed in a crash on Route 209 in Middle Smithfield on Tuesday as he was on his way home from seeing a movie. Andrew Dougan, 22, of Tamiment, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.

CHAD SMITH

Friends of Ethan Moyer said they were all expecting the same thing Thursday: That he would still be there with them.

Moyer, 20, was killed Tuesday morning on Route 209, just blocks from his Smithfield Township home, when a man charged with drunken driving hit his car from behind at a high speed.

Those who knew Moyer, a college student who loved to play the drums, to draw and was "the voice of reason" in his circle of friends, said it was impossible to believe that a person who made such a deep impression was no longer around.

"I'm still expecting to hear him on the phone," said Lucas Miles, a longtime friend who worked with him at the Shawnee Inn. "When I got the news, I thought it was a prank."

Moyer, who was studying music at Northampton Community College, was driving home with a friend in his Dodge van early Tuesday after having seen a movie.

Police say that right before Moyer turned into the Valhalla housing development to go home, Andrew Dougan, 22, of Tamiment, came speeding up from behind in a Mercedes and crashed into the van, causing it to flip over.

"I still can't believe it, I'm completely numb," said Andrew Passione, 19, a friend who was in the car with Moyer but was not severely injured in the crash. "When I saw Ethan lying there in the hospital bed, it was almost like he was going to wake up. But of course he didn't."

A designated organ donor, Moyer helped the lives of seven other people through his death, his family said.

"It just touches me to know that he's going to be helping people," said Miles, who worked with Moyer at the Shawnee Inn. The inn's head cook, Gaurav Navin, said he was stunned.

"I just keep looking at Ethan's handwriting on a sign-in board that we have here," he said. "It's just sinking in."

Friends said that Moyer, who loved bands like the Rolling Stones and was a "rock and roll kind of guy," was a good mediator who could stop people from getting into fights.

"It was crazy, all he would have to do is say, like one or two things to people who were on the verge of fighting and he would be able to talk them down," Miles said.

Friend Nicholas Heitmann said that Moyer loved to listen to music and was one of the "best drummers I've ever heard."

On Thursday, Dougan, who attends Penn State University, was charged with vehicular manslaughter. According to court documents, the officer at the scene smelled alcohol on Dougan's breath and Dougan admitted that he had been drinking. A blood alcohol test showed that he had a BAC of .18, more than twice the legal limit.